This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.
We recommend you take a look at this author's other builds.
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Caitlyn - Problem, Officer? [Burst/AS]






Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Spells:
Ghost
Flash
Ability Order
Headshot (PASSIVE)
Caitlyn Passive Ability
I. Preface
Please comment and try the build and strategies before voting. Thank you.
^ Terrible color scheme? Tell that to Riot. :P ^
This guide will lead you through a slightly different style of playing Caitlyn. While many are currently building her as a standard ranged DPS carry, I have not seen a single game where a Caitlyn building cookie-cutter ranged DPS has been successful at actually carrying her team. This build does something different, focusing on spamming of abilities early-game to harass, transitioning into a strong mid-game ganking phase, and ending with a good mix of survivability and burst damage in the late-game.
Abbreviated Terms
AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks)
AD = Attack Damage
AP = Ability Power
AS = Attack Speed
AoE = Area of Effect
CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
DoT = Damage over Time
ELO = Elo rating (Rating system designed by Arpad Elo that is now used in gaming communities worldwide)
FB = First Blood
HP = Health
LS = Life Steal
MD = Magic Damage
MP = Mana
MR = Magic Resistance
MS = Movement Speed
OOM = Out of Mana
SV = Spell Vamp
DPS = Damage Per Second; also: Strong Auto-attacker
MDPS = Magical Damage Per Second; also:Strong spells; casters
MP5 = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP5 = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds
ArPen = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration

-Absolutely stellar range on her auto-attack.
-Excellent last-hitting ability with her range and good attack animation.
-Amazing farming and harassing skill with her

-Fantastic burst damage with



-Very strong "finisher" with her ultimate, whether it's against enemies you gank or against unsuspecting junglers.

-Extremely squishy. I cannot stress this enough.
-Very vulnerable to CC and focus-fire.
-Ultimate can be blocked.
-No real escape mechanism, as her




















IV(a). Considerable Summoner Spells









Greater Mark of DesolationGreater Marks of Desolation allow Caitlyn to really have that early-game armor penetration that makes her autoattacks just do so much damage. They become useful throughout the entire game, as the flat armor penetration is not nullified in any way by Youmuu's Ghostblade's flat armor penetration, and vice-versa.






I grab improved critical chance over improved Ability Power because Caitlyn operates much more on physical damage than AP damage.
I get cooldown reduction so I can take Archaic Knowledge, which can actually make a large difference in the damage you deal with your W and E abilities. I then get armor penetration and slightly increased attack speed.
From there, I take improved base damage, improved critical damage, and Havoc, giving me permanently increased damage by 5%.
In the utility tree, I get mana/health regen and improved Ghost. I then take bonus experience so I can level faster - this is essential as a carry. Finally I get extended monster buff durations, so when I snipe junglers, take Lizard, or when my team gets Baron, it'll last 15% longer. These are very self-explanatory masteries.
Starting out, you'll want to grab a


Take








Caitlyn is not one of these champs. Her Q,





After






If you haven't already, get level 2 boots on your next trip back. The choice of getting



Get your Brutalizer afterward to improve the overall increase in damage - the armor penetration plus the cooldowns drastically increases your DPS. Then buy a



Turn that Brutalizer into

At this point, your main item build is done, and you can branch into the following items based on what you need.
These are for when your team is pretty ahead of the enemy team and you are only concerned about how fast you can kill enemies. You haven't been focused much, probably because of very good tanks on your side (COUGH AMUMU) and you're comfortable with being squishy in exchange for huge damage.














Defensive Items
These are for when you want to ensure your survivability late game, when there's one champion that's been focusing you and repeatedly killing you, or when your team is at a disadvantage and you need to stay alive longer. I honestly recommend these over the above offensive items, even when you're winning.














Recommended Items
By popular demand, here's a section detailing the items I recommend most and why:









Solo Mid
-Harass with

-Use your superior range to annoy enemy champions, especially melee mid champs like Katarina. Be careful not to overextend.
-Last hit groups of minions with

-"Ward" the two bushes leading to mid lane with

-If being chased or focused down, do the trick that Phreak demonstrated in the champion spotlight - run into the lower edge of the brush by the river and fire your

-Have your jungler ward the enemy buffs so you can run over if needed and icon=Ace in the Holesnipe the opposing jungle.
Solo Top
-Use the brush to your advantage by triggering

-When being chased, simply use

-Have your jungler ward the enemy red buff (if you're on the blue team) or the enemy blue buff (if you're on the purple team) so you can try to steal.
-Trap the brush leading from the river to the lane so you can pick up on ganks.
-Trap the brush in the corner if you're pushing your lane hard - this way, if you retreat a bit, you can see if they decide to check the brush. Try to buy a ward and put it there as well.
-Very similar to solo mid playstyle overall.
Dual Bottom
-Try to lane with a tank, preferably one with some sort of crowd control. Ideal tanks are



-Like with solo top lane, you want to ward the exact same locations.
-Stay behind your tank at all times - your range lets you harass from a safe distance, but have your tank there just in case.
-Try to get last hits with

Caitlyn is a fantastic ganker. Find an overextended lane and go gank it - approach from the back so when you fire your





In a team fight, you do NOT want to be on the front lines. Regardless of the bit of extra health from Phage, you will still be focused down extremely fast by enemy champs. Stay back, spam Q as often as possible, lay your traps in logical locations, and even shoot your net for some extra damage. Once team fights start, stay behind your tanks and play as a typical ranged DPS - except spam your skills as much as humanly possible. In that sense, you are very much like

Late game, the same principles apply. By now you have your completed item build, plus one or two defensive items. When a fight breaks out, pop your

Try to use your ultimate when the fight has simmered down and there is a smaller chance of it being blocked - the exception to this rule, of course, being when there is an extremely high-priority target on the opposing team. In that case, try to angle the shot so that it's much harder for their tanks to intercept.
In terms of item builds, you usually want to get at least a


So the next time you see a Caitlyn asking if she should buy a Doran's Blade and head mid, say "No. Sapphire Crystal."
See you on the Fields.
-Changed item build to rush Trinity Force before Infinity Edge.
-Changed item build again to get Brutalizer and B.F. Sword before Trinity Force.
-Changed skill order to max W in conjunction with E.
-Added "Recommended Items" subsection.
01.09.2011
-Finished guide. Published guide.
01.08.2011
-Wrote everything up to Early Game Playstyle
01.06.2011
-Guide created.
-Wrote everything up to Mastery explanations (chapter 5).
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.